World Cup Watch: England
With just 4 days until the FIFA 2010 World Cup South Africa kicks-off, SI Online shines the spotlight on the 32 teams vying for soccer supremacy. Next in the spotlight are the English.
Profile: The Three Lions are a team with the potential to go all the way. They have the talent at their disposal, now it’s just a case of putting all the key ingredients into one pot. They made light work of qualifying for Mzansi, topping their group and winning nine of their 10 games. They scored 34 goals and conceded just six times. England have suffered the setback of losing their skipper Rio Ferdinand shortly before the showpiece. Time will tell whether this proves a significant setback or if it serves to galvanise the side. Steven Gerrard is now the man with the armband. This is England’s 14th World Cup Finals appearance.
FIFA World ranking: 8
Their group: England have been drawn in Group C alongside Algeria, Slovenia and the USA.
Opening match: The English open their account against the USA at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg on June 12.
Star man: Wayne Rooney enjoyed a stupendous last season for Manchester United, which saw him earn PFA Footballer of the Year. He has grown in every facet of his game, with his heading ability in particular the most notable improvement. The 24-year-old is deceptively quick and is certainly one of, if not the premier striker in the world. He is a born finisher and will be aiming to fire England to glory in SA over the next two months.
One to watch: Adopted son of Arsenal legend Ian Wright, Shaun Wright-Phillips is an equally talented footballer. He cuts a diminutive figure, but boasts strong upper body strength. One of his greatest qualities is his blinding pace. He has the ability to run rings around any defence on his day. He is a midfield creator, but has shown he also has a penchant for scoring memorable goals. He strikes the ball sweetly, and it will be interesting to see how Jabulani handles his kick.
The coach: Italian Fabio Capello is a taskmaster who has reinstilled discipline and respect within the national setup. He took charge in 2008 and England have thrived under his mentorship. There is a real air of excitement in England not since they won it back in 1966. Many pundits and experts truly believe there is no better time for England to add another star to their jerseys than now. A midfielder during his heyday, Capello is a thinker of the game and is not afraid to tinker with the tactics. The 63-year-old is very much his own man, and made some tough World Cup final cuts, with Theo Walcott the most notable omission. He has a side full of experience and confidence at his disposal. Can he lead
England to glory 44 years on from their only triumph?
Most capped current player: Steven Gerrard (80)
Leading current goalscorer: Wayne Rooney (25 goals in 60 games)
Final 23-man World Cup squad:
Goalkeepers: David James, Robert Green, Joe Hart.
Defenders: John Terry, Matthew Upson, Glen Johnson, Stephen Warnock, Ashley Cole, Ledley King, Jamie Carragher, Michael Dawson.
Midfielders: Joe Cole, James Milner, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Aaron Lennon, Michael Carrick.
Forwards: Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe.
SI World Cup prediction: Losing semi-finalists.
By Grant Shub
See South Korea, Cameroon, Portugal, Nigeria, Italy, Germany, Korea DPR, Slovakia, Japan, Honduras, Denmark,Greece, New Zealand, Mexico,Ivory Coast, Chile,Australia,Argentina,France,Spain,South Africa
Chelsea Players Missing In England Vs Mexico Match
Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and Ashley Cole on the sidelines in the England Vs Mexico match.
A row of dark-suited men watching from a row of seats behind the England dug‑out exerted more of an influence on last night’s performance than most of the players on the pitch.
What Fabio Capello’s side lacked against Mexico was the composed decisiveness of John Terry, the dynamism of Ashley Cole, the connectivity of Frank Lampard and the imagination of Joe Cole. Even in a 3-1 victory Chelsea’s Double-winners were badly missed.
Not too many conclusions should be drawn from a pre-World Cup friendly, particularly one in which England were without several key figures. But it would have been nice to see, along with the energy and the eagerness to please their coach, just a little bit of joined-up football, something to suggest that they had spent a week on the training pitch.
Most of that sort of thing came from Mexico, a reminder of the times without number when even England’s most ardent admirers have despaired of seeing the white shirts pass the ball with the intelligence and accuracy shown by their opponents.
While Mexico seldom distinguish themselves at the World Cup, neither do they go home in humiliation. That made them useful opponents last night, a good yardstick by which Capello could judge certain elements of England’s progress. When it came to coherent defending and incisive attacking, he would not have seen much to encourage optimism.
He did not join his players’ post-match stroll around the pitch, in which they accepted the good wishes of the impressive crowd. Instead he headed quickly towards the dressing room.
There he and his coaches would have much to talk about, such as the identity of the seven players to be left at home next week. At the moment the leading candidates appear to be Michael Carrick, Gareth Barry or Tom Huddlestone, Darren Bent, Scott Parker, Michael Dawson or Matthew Upson, Shaun Wright-Phillips, and Leighton Baines or Stephen Warnock, who may get an outing against Japan on Sunday.
The goal that gave England a thoroughly undeserved lead in the 17th minute made a big point for Peter Crouch as he headed Steven Gerrard’s corner back across goal for Ledley King to nod home.
The Tottenham Hotspur striker had got his wish. This was his 14th appearance under Capello but only his fourth start.
Capello’s gamble with King had paid.
With just two auditions to go before the meeting with the United States on 12 June, Crouch was being given the chance to claim a role alongside Wayne Rooney as England’s best supporting forward.
Fabio Capello
However much Capello talks about tactical flexibility, the odds must be on the manager sticking to the 4-4-2 formation with which England reached the finals. The identity of Rooney’s principal assistant, however, remains a matter of speculation.
On the face of it the record of 21 goals in 38 internationals that accompanied Crouch out of Wembley last night trumps Emile Heskey’s seven in 57 every time. But although Crouch scores the goals, Heskey leads the line in the old-fashioned way, using his experience to guide others into position while using his strength to absorb pressure in a way that his rival is ill-equipped to match. At international level Michael Owen and Rooney have been the beneficiaries of Heskey’s unselfishness.
Neither man has been able to establish himself as a first-choice centre-forward in domestic football this season, Heskey supplanted at Aston Villa by John Carew while Crouch lost out to Harry Redknapp’s preference for Roman Pavlyuchenko in the second half of the season – not the vote of confidence a World Cup candidate would be hoping for.
Crouch’s goals are seldom scored against opposition of the highest class. Before last night they had come against Uruguay, Hungary, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Greece, Andorra, Macedonia, Estonia, Austria, Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus and Egypt. Now he can add Mexico to the list. No Brazil or Germany there, although no doubt he would plead a lack of opportunity.
He cuts an angular figure on the pitch, which offends purists and aesthetes. His last goal in Tottenham’s recent league campaign, and perhaps his most important of the season, came in the 1-0 defeat of Manchester City at Eastlands, when Marton Fulop pushed the ball on to his head and virtually all Crouch had to do was be in the right place and watch it hit the net. But, of course, he had needed to get himself into that place in order to take advantage of the gift.
Crouch is a lucky player – albeit one who, most diligently and admirably, makes his own luck, and that is something Capello’s England are definitely going to need.
Courtesy of The Guardian
John Terry Makes His Point
John Terry
John Terry has made his point.
This tie was still on edge, the visitors mustering themselves in pursuit of an equaliser, whenChelsea’s talisman barged himself into space at Frank Lampard’s corner to thump in the goal that deflated Stoke City’s challenge.
The manic goal celebrations that followed arguably offered the best insight yet into the centre-half’s thoughts at surrendering the England captaincy.
Terry peeled away from the near post, the net billowing after his header had flicked off Andy Wilkinson and beyond Thomas Sorensen, to run to the corner of the East and Matthew Harding stands pointing at the armband.
By the time he wrestled himself clear of the celebratory huddle, he had rolled his left sleeve up to his shoulder while leaving the armband exposed on his biceps, his charge alone back into his own half pointedly aimed at the Stoke fans packed into the Shed.
Terry is growing used to the abuse to which he is subjected at games these days, the vitriol all born of the allegations over his private life that cost him the England captaincy last month.
The visiting fans delighted in an array of chants – all following the same, predictable theme – and, when they remembered, booed Terry whenever he found himself in possession.
Chelsea’s fans responded with cries of “There’s only one England captain” despite the fact that there had been three at Wembley alone and none of them had been Terry.
At the current rate, and if the abuse continues for much longer, the 29-year-old is in danger of emerging from the Wayne Bridge affair, no pun intended, as an unlikely victim. It has to be hoped that, as he had stated in the aftermath of the Egypt game, a line has been drawn under the unhappy episode.
His own form had suffered over the last month, the high-profile errors against Everton, Internazionale and Manchester City pointing at uncharacteristic fragility.
His display for England in midweek was made to look more assured by his central defensive partner Matthew Upson’s slip for the Egyptian goal, but he was more ruggedly impressive here.
Stoke are not the aggressive long-ball team that some imply, but they boasted rugged and awkward forwards in Mamady Sidibe and Ricardo Fuller.
Terry and the excellent Alex coped admirably as Rory Delap’s throw-ins ripped into the six-yard box and Henrique Hilário, a goalkeeper living on his nerves, heaved himself through the clutch of bodies in search of the ball. Terry offered reassurance in the circumstances.
The captain, raw emotion after his goal aside, will merely be content to have halted this team’s mini-slump. Chelsea had not lost three in a row since October 2002 – when Claudio Ranieri’s side lost to West Ham, Viking Stavanger and Liverpool – and their capitulation to City had been infuriating.
“As players and fans we learn to lose from time to time,” wrote Terry in his programme notes. “But it doesn’t make it any easier, and especially not in the manner that we lost to Manchester City.
“It wasn’t that it brought to an end our 37-match unbeaten run. It was more the way we lost, which was not us at all. We don’t accept that kind of performance and that kind of result. We know all our fans won’t accept it, which is why we have to put things right.”
They did just that here. The holders’ grip on this trophy remains as firm as ever, and their captain’s dip in form appears to have passed.
Courtesy of The Guardian
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